Roses and thorns: 1/6/19

January 5, 2019 8:50:15 PM

A rose to citizens who have stepped forward to run for elected county offices. Qualifying for those offices began this week and will continue through the end of March. To date, close to 30 candidates have qualified between Lowndes and Oktibbeha County and at least two positions are guaranteed to go to new faces after the November election. Lowndes County Sheriff Mike Arledge has confirmed he will not seek a third term while Lowndes County District 2 Supervisor Bill Brigham will not seek a third term. All other incumbents have either announced their intention to run again or have yet to make that decision. There is still plenty of time for candidates to qualify. We hope all the races feature a full field of qualified candidates, which gives voters more options in deciding these important leadership roles.

A rose to Community Counseling Services which took over the administration and operations of Recovery House this week. Recovery House, located near New Hope, has played an important role in helping troubled women return to their communities as healthy, productive citizens. CCS takes over the residential group home less than two months after long-time Recovery House director Stephanie Johnson resigned to take a position in Tupelo, leaving the future of Recovery House in question. Now, with the resources available to the program through CCS, we are confident that Recovery House will continue its important work. Since it opened in 1985, Recovery House has served roughly 1,500 women. We believe this new arrangement will ensure the viability of the program for many years to come.

A rose to our local delegation as they prepare to head to Jackson for the 2019 Legislative session, which begins Tuesday. Our delegation will be pursuing a variety of legislation that is specific to our communities, including everything from taxes for recreation, tourism and economic development to road projects. The legislators will also address statewide issues that impact our community as well. As always, we encourage our legislators not to forget who they represent, which sometimes means putting the needs of local citizens ahead of political party, alliances or ideology. We'll be watching. Hopefully, we'll like what we see.